Page 38 of Evil Beautiful

They were ignoring the fact that the law had me under surveillance. What did that mean? Were they somehow involved with law enforcement themselves or were they the bait to entrap me on more serious charges?

Like arms dealing.

They could put me away for a very long time on that charge alone. I didn’t want to think about what would happen if they tied me to the hag’s human trafficking ring. It had taken too long to break that ring to have it come back on me now.

I had to end the meeting before I said anything that could be used against me.

“You have given me a lot to think about. Thank you for coming all this way to talk to me. I will discuss your offer with my advisors and get back to you as soon as possible. If you’re still in the country my PA will arrange another meeting with you.”

I stood and so did they. Claude Delamotte smiled and held out his hand and we shook.

Sergei Demidov Orlov stood next to his colleague with absolutely no expression on his face. His cold dead eyes gave nothing away. But when we shook hands he slid a micro SD card in between my fingers. I hid the shock and palmed the card.

What the hell was going on here?

Under the pretext of straightening my suit jacket I slid the tiny card into the breast pocket.

Orlov’s expression didn’t change at all and I knew mine didn’t either.

I had suffered under the crazy hag for a very long time and had learnt to not wear my thoughts and emotions on my face.

Once we were safely in the car and away from the hotel I pulled the card from my pocket.

What the hell was on this card that Orlov had slipped to me?

I couldn’t wait to get back to the office and hand it over to Rico to check out.

Gideon

A long relieved breath escaped me as I walked towards Kellen’s room. His guards were right outside his door and both nodded as I approached.

“How did it go today? Anything to report?”

They both shook their heads.

“One little upset but nothing else to report, Sir. His family came to see him and stayed for a few hours. One of his friends, a female called Strange, visited and so did Ms Pixie. She’s the one who caused a bit of a scene with the staff. They refused to give her information and she took them to task about who she is. It was quickly sorted though. His brother is with him, it seems his family are taking turns staying with him.” Luke gave him a quick update of the day’s activities.

Only Pixie. I sighed and moved on. I would talk to her later.

“Has the doctor been by today?” Both men shook their heads.

“No, he’s apparently only coming in tomorrow morning. He was in surgery all day and missed doing rounds. The sister in charge said he called for an update on Kell and was satisfied with his progress.”

I was pleased I had assigned the two men to guard Kellen, having them here gave me peace of mind.

With a last nod I walked into my man’s room.

The first thing I saw was Kell’s battered face and once again rage boiled through my blood. The next thing was Brendan, his brother, sitting next to his bed with a book in his hands. His eyes, so like Kell’s, were on me.

“He’s been sleeping for about thirty minutes. The nurse gave him his meds and they had a bit of an argument about him not using the self-medicating pain pump. He eventually gave in and used it, and I’m sure that’s why he’s finally sleeping and not just dozing.” He spoke quietly as he set his book to the side and stood.

“Thank you for staying with him.” I picked up Kell’s hand and stroked my thumb over the back of it.

He gave a small shrug. “He’s my little brother. I failed him when he needed me the most. Not going to do it ever again. I’m here now and I’m staying.”

He looked at me as if he expected me to have an issue with his decision. Little did he know that I had no problem with him staying around.

“That’s good, he needs to know that he has your support. He has great friends who love him but he needs your acceptance.”

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